Most non-native speakers struggle to get formality right, but in honesty much of the time the biggest struggle is in our heads. The main concern in the majority of my clients is that they’ll be too direct or come across as rude. Some of this comes down to personality, with perfectionists worrying more than others, but I believe a lot has to do with our own language and culture bias and how the foreign language is structured grammatically. In comparison with languages such as German, French...

I’ve had several conversations over past weeks around a similar theme of communication. People who are frustrated at not getting what they want when according to them they’ve either asked for it, or its been offered to them but not actually manifested. When clients come to me with this situation it takes a little digging to try and find out what’s happened. Often what’s happened is not that they’ve been rejected, but that the individual hasn’t been clear enough either about what it is they...

One thing I've noticed in the clients who are struggling to step into more senior roles is that the qualities that helped them get there are actually hindering them in this next stage of their career. The Senior Scientist who built their reputation through being meticulous now finds themselves paralysed by perfectionism. The newly promoted Associate Director who was valued for being collaborative now struggles to have difficult conversations and hold people accountable. The Research Associate...